Questions of King Milinda Part 02

SR No.: 007682
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 474

INTRODUCTION.
xliii
Nasks, being strictly religious, required only some explanations, with little extended commentary; because the religion had to be maintained without sensible modification. Of the Hadha-mãthric Nasks we know but little. But the strictly Legal Nasks consisted chiefly of the commentary which is always necessary to adapt ancient laws to modern ideas.
With regard to the mode of describing the Nasks, adopted in the Dînkard, it is evident that the compiler intended, in the first place, to give merely a very short account of the general contents of each Nask, to be followed by a detailed statement of the particular contents of each chapter (see Dk. VIII, Chap. I, 23, 24). But, when he had fully carried out this intention with respect to the first three Nasks, his work came to a premature conclusion, which has deprived us of much valuable information regarding the rest of the Nasks. The descriptions of these other Nasks vary in extent, but may be roughly classified as follows:-Of the Nâdar and Vastag there is no description whatever. Of the Dâmdâd, Rado-dâd-aîtag, Kaskîsrôbô, Vistâsp-sâstô, Bakân-yast, and Stôd-yast the description is very short, averaging 80 Pahlavi words for each. Of the Pâgag, Baris, Kitradâd, Spend, and Hâdôkht the description is rather longer, averaging 358 Pahlavi words for each; but, as such a description is still far too brief to be satisfactory, the compiler must have intended to add a detailed account of each chapter of all these Nasks. On coming to the strictly Legal Nasks, however, he adopted a different plan, by giving a much more voluminous statement of the contents of certain selected chapters; thus the very long description of the Nîkâdûm, Ganabâ-sar-nigad, Hûspâram, and Sakâdûm averages 3670 Pahlavi words for each. This change of plan is somewhat modified in the case of the Vendîdâd, where the description of 1272 Pahlavi words is only moderately long. While the first three Nasks, the Südkar, Varstmânsar, and Bako, after a very short description averaging 65 Pahlavi words for each, are again described in detail, as already mentioned, to the average extent of 8647 Pahlavi words for each.
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